1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a film reading apparatus for reproducing the images recorded on a film on which accompanying information can be recorded together with the images.
2. Related Background Art
In a conventional film reproduction apparatus, each loaded film is checked by reading the ID code added to the film. This ID code requires a dedicated sensor for reading the numbers and bar code information printed on a cartridge or the bar code information imprinted on a film. The addition of the sensor therefore has become a large factor that increases the cost.
In automatic slide show reproduction, zooming is performed with a predetermined magnification change regardless of magnification used in photographing and photographed frame size (aspect ratio). For example, a technique of determining the start and end magnifications of zooming in accordance with the object distance and the focal length of a photographing lens has been proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 08-228311. Consider a film image for which a plurality of frame sizes (aspect ratios) can be set as in the case with IX240 films. In this case, since the optimal end zoom magnification varies with frame sizes (aspect ratios), it is difficult to present zooming with the optimal zoom magnifications in the automatic slide show reproduction.
It is an object of the present invention to automatically restore the reproduced state set upon previous loading of a film without adding any dedicated sensor.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a film reading apparatus comprising a reading unit for reading a bit string recorded on a first loaded film, a memory for storing the bit string read by the reading unit, a detection unit for detecting that a second film is loaded after the first film is unloaded, and a collation unit for, in a case that loading of the second film is detected by the detection unit, making the reading unit read a bit string stored on the second loaded film, and collating the read bit string on the second film with the bit string on the first film which is stored in the memory. A determination unit determines, in a case that the bit strings on the first and second films, which are collated with each other by the collation unit, coincide with each other, that the previously loaded first film is identical to the currently loaded second film.
This arrangement allows restoration of the reproduced state set upon previous loading of a film without adding any dedicated sensor.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings.